ASIC, SoC AND SiP: PERFECT PARTNERS According to Fictiv’s 2022 State of Manufacturing report, 90% of manufacturers are using digital processes.
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itting at the heart of any digital strategy is a smart sensor that converts real-world variables into digitised data. But, as sensor technology grows in sophistication, how can we get all of this extra functionality into a miniature device for a reasonable cost? Here, Richard Mount, Director of Sales at ASIC design and supply company Swindon Silicon Systems, breaks down the ASIC, SoC and SiP integrated circuits (ICs) integral to intelligent sensors. The majority of sensors convert a physical change into an electrical one. Understanding what this change means is a task for a higher-level control system. Once a manufacturer knows they want to integrate a smart sensor into their applica-
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tion, they’re bound to have some follow-up questions: What if the sensor can be made more sophisticated? How about conditioning the data and making the sensor response more linear? Calibrating the data to counter the effects of temperature, for example? Could the sensor filter unimportant events and only communicate changes that were relevant to the wider system? Equipping a sensor with such functions doesn’t need to come at a cost that’s unfeasible for most manufacturers, and there are many forms of custom IC that can help achieve these ambitions.
ASICs An ASIC is a custom chip that has been designed specifically for a customer’s individual application. This ensures that the ASIC is unique to any other offering on the market in terms of performance and differentiates the customer’s product from the competition. ASICs are complex devices containing many functions. As well as including the
processing, conditioning and communication functions required for sensor interfacing, designers working on today’s Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) related products and systems find an ASIC will incorporate a number of cost and performance benefits. While there is a short-term cost associated with ASIC development, the return on investment is high. By integrating functionality such as the analog front end, signal processing and IoT connectivity into one system, the overall cost of the final product is much lower compared to its loaded PCB equivalent. Furthermore, because of its size and the fact that an ASIC replaces most of a PCB full of components, the user can expect a much higher efficiency and lower power consumption than they would receive from an off-the-shelf alternative. Customers also choose the ASIC route to guarantee component supply for the lifetime of their product with no gaps in availability. Swindon, for instance, provides assurances that the device will be available until the customer end-of-lifes its product
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